Part 43 (1/2)
”Except Mr. Inspector Jacks,” Dr. Whiles said slowly.
The Prince seemed scarcely to grasp the situation.
”Well,” he said, ”fifty pounds is not a great deal of money. Some unknown person--possibly, as you suggest, Mr. Jacks--is willing to give fifty pounds to discover your whereabouts. I, on the other hand, am giving a thousand guineas to keep you here as my guest. The odds do not seem even, do they?”
”Put in that way,” Dr. Whiles admitted, ”they certainly do not. But there is another thing which has come into my mind.”
The Prince smiled and helped himself to one of the very excellent cigarettes which had been provided for the delectation of his visitor.
”Pray treat me with every confidence, Dr. Whiles,” he said. ”Tell me exactly what is in your thoughts.”
”Well, then, I will,” the doctor answered. ”Sitting here with nothing particular to do, one has plenty of leisure to think. For the first time, I have seriously tried to puzzle out what Mr. Inspector Jacks really wanted with me, why he came down to ask me about the person whom I treated for injuries resulting from a bicycle accident one Wednesday evening not long ago, why he took me up to London to see if I could identify that person in a very different guise. I have tried to put the pieces together and to ask myself what he meant by it all.”
”With so much time upon your hands, Dr. Whiles,” the Prince remarked, ”you can scarcely fail to have arrived at some reasonable explanation.”
”I don't know whether it is reasonable or not,” the doctor answered, ”but the obvious explanation is getting on my nerves. There are two things which I cannot get away from. One is that I cannot for the life of me imagine your riding a bicycle twelve or fifteen miles north of London between eleven o'clock and midnight; and the other--”
”Come, the other?” the Prince remarked encouragingly.
”The other,” the doctor continued, ”is the fact that within half a mile of my house runs the main London and North Western line.”
”The London and North Western Railway line,” the Prince repeated, ”and what has that to do with it?”
”This much,” the doctor answered, ”that on that very night, about half an hour before your--shall we call it bicycle accident?--the special train from Liverpool to London pa.s.sed along that line. You will remember the tragic occurrence which took place before she reached London, the murder of the man Hamilton Fynes. If you read the report of the evidence at the inquest, you will notice the engine driver's declaration that the only time on the whole journey when he travelled at less than forty miles an hour was when pa.s.sing over the viaduct and before entering the tunnel which is plainly visible from my house.”
”This is very interesting,” the Prince remarked, ”but it is not new. We have known all this before. Perhaps, though, some fresh thing has come into your mind connected with these happenings. If so, please do not hesitate. Let me hear it.”
”It is a fresh thing to me,” the doctor said,--”fresh, in a sense, though all the time I have had an uneasy feeling at the back of my head.
I know now what it was which brought Inspector Jacks to see me. I know now what it was he had at the back of his head concerning the man who met with a bicycle accident at this psychological moment.”
”Inspector Jacks is a very shrewd fellow,” the Prince said. ”I should not be in the least surprised if you were entirely right.”
The doctor moved restlessly in his chair. His eyes remained on his companion's face, as though fascinated.
”Can't you understand,” he said, ”that Inspector Jacks is on your track?
Rightly or wrongly, he believes that you had something to do with the murder on the train that night.”
The Prince nodded amiably. He seemed in no way discomposed.
”I feel convinced,” he said, ”that you are right. I agree with you.
I believe that Inspector Jacks has had that idea for some little time now.”
The doctor gripped the sides of his chair and stared at this man who discussed a matter so terrible with calm and perfect ease.
”Yes, I have felt that more than once,” the Prince continued. ”My presence upon the spot at that precise moment with injuries which had to be explained somehow or other, was, without doubt, unfortunate.”
The two men sat for several moments without further speech. The doctor's features seemed to reflect something of the horror which he undoubtedly felt. The Prince appeared only a trifle bored.
”So that is why,” the former exclaimed hoa.r.s.ely, ”I have been appointed your physician in chief!”